A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

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Potential Implementation Strategy: Addressing Post-Conflict Restitution The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has outlined steps to take in addressing restitution of land following a conflict, which the Government of Liberia may wish to follow: Creation of organizational bodies: - Legal aid units - Claims processing centers - Decision-making structures, including mediation facilities, adjudication bodies, specialized land courts, mobile courts and an enforcement unit Rules for adjudicating claims: - Types of eligible claims - Scope of eligible people - A date past which the owner had been dispossessed of the property at issue - Admissible evidence for restitution claims Accessibility: - Facilitate ease of submission of claims, without sacrificing quality through decentralization - Ensure forms and information are available in appropriate languages and take into account literacy levels - Ensure the system is affordable to both the potential claimants and the government 424
Section ii. recommendationS related to refugeeS in the weSt african SuB-region Refugees in Ghana and the West African Sub-Region Refugee situations in Africa are governed by the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, as well as the panoply of international and regional human rights instruments including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. In Ghana, site of the largest Liberian refugee settlement in the sub-region, the Refugee Law of 1993 governs many aspects of the situation. International refugee law and Ghanaian law contain three fundamental principles – the right to return to one’s own country, the prohibition of refoulement, and the absolutely voluntary nature of refugee repatriation. States are prohibited from expelling or returning a refugee to the frontiers of territories where he or she would be threatened with persecution. 157 “Even when the circumstances in the country of origin have undergone a fundamental change, individual refugees may continue to have a well-founded fear of persecution or compelling reasons not to return arising out of previous persecution. [When this has] been determined, the ‘ceased circumstances’ cessation clauses should thus not apply to them.” 158 Moreover, refugees are entitled to basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Advocates recommends that the Government of Ghana and other West African host nation governments comply fully with their obligations under domestic and international refugee law as well as international human rights law. The Advocates recommends the following: • The Government of Ghana and other host countries should immediately cease any activities with respect to Liberian refugees that impose physical, psychological, or material pressure on individuals duly recognized as having refugee status to return. 159 • Despite changed country conditions in Liberia, the Government of Ghana and other host countries should recognize that compelling reasons may, for certain individuals, support the continuation of refugee status. o Host countries, in collaboration with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, should facilitate ongoing asylum applications and timely refugee status determinations, specifically, “Asylum requests of Liberians should be examined thoroughly in fair and effective individual refugee status determination procedures with the necessary procedural safeguards, taking into consideration the individual merits of their asylum claims, based on the criteria in the 1951 Convention, and where applicable, Article I.1 of the 1969 [African Union] Convention…Additionally, in light of the particularly violent nature of the armed conflict in past years, asylum claims of victims of particularly atrocious forms of persecution suffered in the past should be examined taking into account the consequences and effects of such persecution on 425 Chapter Fourteen
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A House with Two Rooms Final Report
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This report is dedicated to the peo
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The Advocates for Human Rights The
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Table of contents Acknowledgments x
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The Return 374 Chapter Fourteen. Re
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Lindquist & Vennum LLP Maslon Edelm
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Finally, The Advocates thanks our i
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Table of Acronyms ACANA African Cul
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3 Chapter One. Executive Summary Al
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also spoken. Liberia was partly sha
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The concentration of state power am
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factions as they emerged to contest
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thirteen years old. They dragged he
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or guiding children and others who
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are extremely high, but the realiti
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Addressing the legacy of conflict t
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Notes 1 TRC Diaspora Statement Rec.
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Priority Recommendations at a Glanc
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(UNHCR) should ensure that any repa
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individuals personally responsible
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eflect its history and people. Such
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31 Chapter Two
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hiStory and goalS Chapter Three. Di
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Commissioner Massa Washington, who
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39 Chapter Three Many national trut
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41 Chapter Three The TRC Diaspora P
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The majority of TRC statements from
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45 Chapter Three The report authors
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taking and is available for viewing
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geography and peopleS 1 Liberia is
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key featureS of liBerian culture Li
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Liberian settler politics from 1883
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President Tolbert. 76 Tolbert was a
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peace, security, unity and reconcil
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practices as superior to practices
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would have to make concessions to i
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statement giver reported how his ne
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targeted. For example, people with
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chickens, food, animals, and things
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televangelist Pat Robertson’s Fre
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33 The palava hut is a traditional
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Special Court for Sierra Leone, htt
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Press Secretary to Samuel K. Doe, i
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see also Herman J. Cohen, Assistant
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81 Chapter Five Human Rights Abuses
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military to shoot the mostly indige
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Human rights violations reported du
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around, all derisively gazing at th
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soldiers reportedly engaged in loot
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eleased. 63 Checkpoints and Curfews
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In 1984, this statement giver himse
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dorms and raped for several days be
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Ethnic Targeting Doe’s revenge ag
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and stripping billboards of Doe. 14
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government were another step on Lib
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34 The statement giver’s father d
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108 Adewale Maja-Pearce, The Press
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108
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110
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all groups committed human rights v
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faction for companionship and prote
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Statement givers noted the rewards
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We were on the road and some rebels
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Combatants used other methods to co
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BBC was careful not to broadcast di
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42 See TRC Diaspora Statement Recs.
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126
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128
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methods condoned, encouraged, or ev
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“Starvation of civilians as a met
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where there was “a wall running w
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were Kru, Sarpo, Lorma, or Bassa du
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plastic and my sister’s fingers w
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If you are a man and wear a red T-s
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Those responsible for the detention
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We didn’t want to leave Monrovia.
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The terroristic impact of the killi
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his bare hand and because of that,
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okered peace accords, 195 disarmame
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the woman was from. She replied tha
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Doe’s body for political reasons.
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Another statement giver stated that
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iSe of other factionS The years bet
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Statements and secondary sources re
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One day some men from the LPC came
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epresentatives selected by the vari
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families, 409 killing, 410 and seek
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Statements revealed that ECO-MOG pl
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Notes 1 stePHen ellis, tHe mAsk of
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96 TRC Diaspora Statement Rec. 1354
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Every Car Or Moving Object Gone: Th
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Report.aspx?ReportId=57838 (last vi
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180
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182
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Liberian treasury and had plenty of
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group supported by Guinea and forme
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homes and in public. A statement gi
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of being beaten while in detention.
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an informant, but was never brought
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Acts, such as murder, extermination
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publisher. After that, the reporter
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97 Children and Armed Conflict, sup
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200
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202
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Estimates of the number of child so
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ex-combatants interviewed by Human
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of the conflict, but in 1996, lost
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Use of Child Soldiers National Patr
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that they were never paid and relie
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He thought the commanders provided
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Some former child soldiers acknowle
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Another statement giver credited a
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21 Promises of Peace, supra note 7
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224
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226
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The statute creating the TRC also r
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Legal Systems The division of Liber
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of regulated labor. According to th
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the young woman that “trading sex
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context, but rather is a violation
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In addition to inflicting torture o
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One statement giver described an at
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A public hearing witness also testi
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The rebel who raped me was named An
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I was befriended by an elderly woma
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through the destruction of familial
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community displacement, as well as
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eceive adequate treatment following
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Notes 1 U.N. Div. for the Advanceme
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University (Sept. 23, 2008) (noting
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(transcript on file with the author
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204 Id. 205 See U.N. Country Team,
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262
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264
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egime, Libyans had also established
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Taylor. Côte d’Ivoire’s combin
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Endemic corruption during the civil
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A final complicating factor in the
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Liberia was the largest producer of
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at 4 (Nov. 2003), http://www.issafr
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certificates of origin from Liberia
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119 Liberia - UNOMIL Background, Au
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282
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national seal with the motto “The
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government, the U.S. Navy sent two
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Nevertheless, diplomatic officials
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and shootings that resulted in deat
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intervene and that we didn’t do i
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$525,000 on June 21, 2000 and the s
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87 TRC Diaspora Statement Rec. 707.
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300
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families fled to avoid attack when
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homes. One statement giver describe
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Everyone Scattered When the rebels
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abies and ran to the bush as fast a
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helped me and paid for everything.
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Liberians engaged in an array of ta
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compound was later forced to go to
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Physically crossing the border was
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One statement giver who escaped Lib
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Guinea, and Côte d’Ivoire, and r
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statement givers as the reason they
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were rounded up and held in “conc
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change left many who arrived in Bud
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This leads [him] and others to use
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[A], you’re still living. We will
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here with my children and step-chil
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families are now leaders in governm
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Refugees entering the United States
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Some asylum seekers have been unabl
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life after reSettlement The length
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plane tickets, which we would later
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“Even your younger brother will t
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in a university. We are looked at a
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given rise to problems within the h
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y learning the material. 413 Additi
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Liberians also reported concerns ab
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For example, foreign medical profes
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association websites in the United
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matter, for-profit businesses), cer
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yet typical, trauma by the time the
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actually moved out of state. I know
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inter-tribal mixing occurs than eve
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A researcher interviewing Liberians
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Several statement givers and interv
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Alliance of Liberia (PAL), and the
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Page 436 and 437: person’s choice, the government s
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Page 446 and 447: Personal Integrity & Dignity: The R
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Page 466 and 467: ut also retain the benefits to the
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Page 472 and 473: Section vi. economic, Social, and c
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ecognition. 393 • The Government
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men; • The Government of Liberia
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of national institutions for protec
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Potential Implementation Strategy:
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Recommendations to the Internationa
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financing of reasonable buffer stoc
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Section ix. recommendationS related
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the United States Government take t
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Asylee-Refugee Parity Liberian refu
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• The United States Government sh
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to ensure that Liberians are able t
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concluSion The Liberia TRC Diaspora
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Notes 1 An Act to Establish the Tru
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66 Convention on the Rights of the
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156 Id. Principle 15.2. 157 Convent
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231 by the Minnesota Lawyers Intern
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Principle 24(b). 287 Id. Principle
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nl/~mtrapman/xgasten/nizw/WHODeclar
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Commissions 31-32 (2006); U.N. Prin
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512
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514
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Bachelor of Arts in political scien
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518
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520
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II. Sources of International Law Ar
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Bill of Rights.” 27 In turn, this
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• to the highest attainable stand
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iv. Specific Application of Interna
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iii. The Convention against Torture
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D. Regional Human Rights Instrument
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(i.e., complaints) may also be sent
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due to the national emergency. In s
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Conventions I-IV that apply only in
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treaties include the Convention on
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• International Convention on the
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U.N.T.S. 171 [hereinafter ICCPR]; I
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114 Id. art. 25, 26. 115 Human Righ
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201 The date following the treaty o
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550
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552
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The Organization of African Unity (
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d. Asylum from Persecution The poli
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origin, fortune, birth or other sta
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Notes 1 u.s. Committee for refugees
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48 Id. art. 26. 49 1951 UN Refugee
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564
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566
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Standing Mediation Committee to bri
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May 2001 - U.N. Security Council re
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572
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574
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1. Background to the TRC 2. Designa
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Advisory Committee resources, Minne
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as stated herein, consistent with t
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C. Recommendations, if appropriate,
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584
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that rich information about the dia
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governmental organizations, law fir
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596
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Table 3. Participation of Statement
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602
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604
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Photo Legend Chapter One Page 1: TR
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Page 266: Ghana’s Atlantic coast.
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610
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A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

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